While trying to fly back home for Christmas, I found out, rather unfortunately, that Southwest Airlines is not therapy dog friendly, regardless of what the law says!
I made it all the way to Oakland California from Burbank with my dog, my letters from my doctor, my military ID, and all his applicable paperwork...but the airlines would not let me continue on to Boise, Idaho! Worse still was that they absolutely refused to let me make other arrangements with Southwest...
So, there I was, at ten at night, with no other flights leaving to Idaho until the next morning. I had to rebook through Delta, find a hotel for the night, and make sure that I was able to get back to the airport the NEXT morning to make my flight!
Southwest, the entire time, claimed that I had never shown them proof of my dogs paperwork and that I had been "Sneaking" him on board and that he was a disruption to passengers (which is bull puckey as he was NEVER out of his carrier while on the flight and had been sedated and was sleeping). OUTRAGEOUS! I had ALL his paperwork, had been CLEARED through Burbank, and had spoken with numerous gate agents along the way, all who assured me I was fine!
JUST AN FYI...Southwest has had a history of unreasonable removals of passengers from their flights...from people with wardrobe the airlines felt was inappropriate all the way to a poor man with Autism who was not only kicked off, but shuttled for 12 hours on various flights around the country while his frantic family tried to track him down!
When we spoke with Southwest representatives concerning this matter they said that it was against their policies to allow any animals on their planes, regardless of the reason. When I quoted the laws as outlined by the Americans With Disabilities Act as well as the medical documentation as supplied by the VFW, the response was "Well, you don't look like you have any disabilities..." Apparently you have to be physically disabled to be allowed by Southwest, and even that is probably a big IF.
I am an Afghanistan/Iraq war veteran with diagnosed bipolar and post traumatic stress syndrome. My dog is an emotional support dog who not only helps me with flying but from reoccuring night terrors and panic attacks. He has, on one very serious occasion, saved my life. This dog is NOT A PET, he is my life line.
Boycot Southwest. Fly Delta.

Hi 36Monsters....

As the spouse of a retired Delta pilot, I appreciate your sentiments about Delta. Boycotting Southwest is not the answer. But...there are things you can do to help enlighten them!

Having travelled a lot both with and without pets, I am quite familiar with each airline's policy regarding pets (I also live in Boise!). Southwest has never allowed animals aboard any of their flights regardless of the status. I am surprised you were allowed to bring your dog onboard at all.

I certainly hope you have written letters to Southwest Management regarding the treatment you received. The best way to address the situation with the airline is to state the facts - the dates and times of your flights, the airports you were in and if you have the names of any of the employees you encountered that would greatly help your cause.

If you and your therapy dog were allowed on one flight that should have set the stage for the remaider of your flights. The supervisors should have realized that and not hassled you on the last leg of your flight.

I wish you luck in recuping the costs of your delay in returning home. It's these types of situations that give traveling with therapy/assistance animals a bad name.

There is no law in the U.S. requiring airlines to fly therapy dogs. Therapy dogs are not service dogs. Some airlines might choose to fly them, but it is their choice, just as it is their choice whether to permit pets or SAR dogs. Also, the ADA specifically does not apply to airplanes.

Under the Air Carrier Access Act, they must permit people with disabilities, with service dogs to fly unless doing so would constitute an undue burden or if the animal is disruptive. For example, if the animal is too large to fit in the foot space allotted to the human traveler, they can require the human to either purchase a second ticket or to have the animal fly in baggage. If the animal barks, urinates, pesters others with jumping up or sniffing, or is otherwise behaving in a disruptive manner, then they may refuse to have the animal in the cabin, but should offer to fly him in baggage. Airlines are permitted to ask the owner of the dog what the dog is trained to do as a condition of allowing them on the plane.

Unfortunately, since there are so many groups issuing fake ID papers so that people can claim their pets as service dogs, real documentation of real service dogs is also becoming meaningless. The best evidence a dog is a service dog is the dog's behavior and the owner's description of what the dog does.

The Air Carrier Access Act is unlike the ADA in that it includes people with disabilities with emotional support animals as a protected class. So even though the ADA does not cover public access rights for people with emotional support animals in public accommodations, the ACAA does cover them for flying in the cabin of planes.

Off hand I can think of only one state that grants special rights to therapy dog owners, and that is only for mental health professionals who use them in their work (which accounts for very few therapy dog owners over all).

We have a pair of dogs training for different hearing needs for my husband and me, in the past year they have learned so much, and I want to teach them more. My dog will tell me if my husband is sick in the night as he sleeps in his recliner 98% of the time, and I am deaf in one ear and sometimes sleep on my good ear. He alerts to buzzers, timers, knocks at the door and can be protective but not to the extreme. Hubby's dog does a lot of the same things but she is also a good dog to just sit with him and lower his blood pressure.

These dogs go every where with us and have only been turned away by the dr's office and one restaurant....food is lousy there anyhow, no great loss!

I just read your story about the trouble you had with Southwest Airlines. The employees who acted like that is dispicable. Unfortunately some people still believe that disabilities are only physical, like blindness or Cerebral Palsey.
I do have a question. You wrote that your dog is a therapy dog. Did you mean a Psychiatric Service Dog? I kind of assume that you did mean a PSD, but the two titles are very different.
If you can prove that you kept your dog in the crate and had all the paperwork, I think you should sue the heck out of Southwest. I forget if you mentioned the breed you have. I just tried to research a little about dogs in airplane cabins, and, at the very least Continental is very clear about their policy toward pets. I also looked up the Southwest Airline's pet policy, which was a little ambiguos, but the dog should have been allowed on the airplaine "Small cats and dogs are now (effective June 17, 2009) allowed to travel in the cabin of the aircraft on Southwest Airlines flights. The pet must be small enough to fit in an approved under the seat carrier. Each airline has different rules regarding pets in the cabin. There was no mention of a policy for PSD's, but that makes your story even more infuriating.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm very passionate about the rights of people with invisible disabilities. I also don't remember the date that you had posted your story (memory issues directly related to my conditions), but I hope you don't have to go through an ordeal like that again.

How about not using the term "psychiatric", "emotional" or "therapeutic." Simply "Medical Assist Service Dog." They are not allowed to ask the nature of the disability (severe psychiatric disorders, by the way are MEDICAL) - they just may ask what the animal is trained to do for you. Some give the pat answer of "ameliorate my medical disability." If necessary talk about alerting to medical episodes, or whatever.

Therapy dogs are NOT protected under the ADA. Just Service dogs. Medical vs emotional. Here's a book.

Many medical conditions are "invisible" - such as epilepsy, meniere's, fragile bones, hearing loss, episodic fluctuations in blood pressure, heart conditions, and more. They are not allowed to ask the diagnosis.